Man accused in deaths of missing Deltona family requests jail release

Friday

Jan 31, 2014 at 2:30 PMJan 31, 2014 at 3:04 PM

By Patricio G. Balonapatricio.balona@news-jrnl.com

The accused killer of a missing Deltona mother and her two children wants to get out of jail and has asked a judge to let him out on his own recognizance, but the family of the missing said they will ask the court not to free him.In a motion filed by attorney Jeffrey Deen, of the 5th District Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, Luis Toledo, 32, is asking to be released on his own recognizance. If not, Toledo is asking the court to transfer him to another detention facility, according to 7th Judicial courts spokeswoman Ludmilla Lelis.In the one-hour hearing scheduled before Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson in DeLand on Monday, Deen is also asking that Toledo be granted a continuance without waiver of a speedy trial, a second motion to compel discovery and the release of the grand jury testimony.Deen could not be reached for comment Friday.Toledo was arrested Oct. 23 after Felicita Perez reported her daughter Yessenia Suarez, 28, and her two children, Thalia Otto, 9 and Michael Otto, 8, missing from their Covent Gardens Place home in Deltona. Volusia sheriff’s investigators and family have said that Toledo and his wife, Suarez, were having marital problems.Toledo went to Suarez’s workplace in Lake Mary on Oct. 22 and slapped her in the face after accusing her of having an affair with a co-worker, investigators said. That night, family members said, Toledo and his wife went home to discuss a divorce. Investigators believe that during an argument Toledo killed Suarez and disposed of her body between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Oct. 23.After an intensive search that started October and led into mid-November, search groups scoured lakes, woods and neighborhoods, but the bodies of the mother of the children have not been found. Toledo admitted killing Suarez with a martial arts blow to the throat and was charged with second-degree murder. Toledo denied killing the children telling investigators someone else killed them.But on Jan. 16, a grand jury indicted Toledo with two counts of first-degree murder in connection in the deaths of the children, second-degree murder for his wife’s death and tampering with evidence. State Attorney R. J. Larizza said then that prosecutors had enough forensic evidence to charge Toledo with the death of the children.Reached by telephone Friday afternoon, Ruben Perez, the stepfather of Suarez said he has heard of the motion filed by Toledo and that he will ask the court to not free Toledo. Ruben Perez said he still carries out searches on his own when people call in tips and leads to him. Rubern Perez said he believes Toledo is crazy to think he will be released before trial. “It’s just absurd. I know that is not going to happen,” Ruben Perez said. “I am not worried.”